The Political,Economic, and Social Aspects of Katrina

In this paper, we examine the resiliency of community recovery after a natural disaster. We argue that a resilient recovery requires robust economic/financial institutions, political/legal institutions, and social/cultural institutions. We explore how politically and privately created disaster preconditions and responses have contributed to or undermined institutional robustness in the context of the Gulf Coast's recovery after Hurricane Katrina. We find that where postdisaster resiliency has been observed, private-sector responses contributing to the health of these institutional arenas are largely responsible. Where postdisaster fragility and slowness has been observed, public-sector responses contributing to the frailty of these institutional arenas are largely the cause. In other words, we engage in a comparative institutional analysis of civil society, entrepreneurial commercial society, and government agencies and political actors in the wake of a natural disaster.     

Intangible assets and value relevance: Evidence from the Portuguese stock exchange

We assess the value relevance of the amounts for identifiable intangible assets and goodwill reported in the financial statements of all non-finance companies listed on the main market of the Portuguese Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2008. Additionally, we use panel data to explore the impact on value relevance of Portugal’s formal adoption of International Accounting Standards [IAS] and International Financial Reporting Standards [IFRS] in 2005. A distinctive feature of the accounting by our sample companies is that when they adopted IAS 38 and IFRS 3 in 2005, they were no longer required to recognise some intangible assets (such as start-up costs and research expenditures) and were no longer required to amortise goodwill.We find that net earnings, reported goodwill and other intangible assets are highly significantly associated with stock price. However, whereas earnings are related positively to stock prices when Portuguese Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) were applied prior to 2005, the value relevance of earnings appears to have declined after the adoption of IAS/IFRS in 2005. Although the change to IAS/IFRS had no impact on the value relevance of identifiable intangibles as a whole, the evidence suggests that there was a positive effect on the value relevance of goodwill. When the subclasses of identifiable intangible assets are considered, we found evidence of an increase in value relevance of goodwill, other intangible assets, and research and development expenditures.     

The coevolution of rent appropriation and capability development

Extant approaches to rent appropriation are static in that they explore bargaining power at a fixed point in time. This article contributes by examining how capabilities and bargaining power coevolve. As capabilities are developed, those who are favored by knowledge asymmetries make decisions that balance value creation potential against the rent appropriation regime, such as the organizational form in which the capability will be embedded. Using the example of Apple's development of the iPod, this article illustrates how stakeholders plan for rent appropriation as they assemble new capabilities—well before any value is actually created. Given that firm performance is an outcome of both capability development and rent appropriation, a robust theory must incorporate an understanding of how they coevolve. As such, the article highlights the need to integrate property rights theory with theories of value creation and governance costs as actors constantly make trade‐offs along these dimensions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the relationship between female labour force participation and fertility in G7 countries: evidence from panel cointegration and Granger causality

This article examines the relationship between the female labour force participation rate and total fertility rate for the G7 countries from 1960 to 2006 using panel unit root, panel cointegration, Granger causality and long-run structural estimation. The article’s main findings are that the female labour force participation rate and total fertility rate are cointegrated for the panel of G7 countries; that long-run Granger causality runs from the total fertility rate to the female labour force participation rate and that a 1% increase in the total fertility rate results in a 0.4% decrease in the female labour force participation rate for the G7 countries.     

Antecedents and consequences of the perceived adjustment of Japanese expatriates in the USA

The present study was designed to better understand the antecedents and consequences of expatriate adjustment in an international assignment. The researchers surveyed Japanese expatriates assigned to the United States. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test our hypotheses and model. The results indicated that previous knowledge of the host country, language proficiency, willingness to communicate and perception of the novelty of the host culture were differentially related to expatriates' adjustment to the host country. General and work adjustments were negatively related to expatriates' intent to return early. In addition, interrelationships among the adjustment dimensions were examined and the results indicated that general adjustment leads to work adjustment, which, in turn, influences interactional adjustment. Implications for future research are presented.     

A Proposal to Replace 'True and Fair View' With 'Acceptable Risk of Material Misstatement'

This article examines argumentation factors which affect the truth of an audit opinion. We propose that the auditor's report be revised to replace the words 'true and fair view' with 'acceptable risk of material misstatement'. This would better align the communication of auditors with the characteristics of accounting information upon which they report. Adoption of the wording 'acceptable risk of material misstatement' will facilitate a better appreciation by users of financial statements of the accounting estimates in financial statements.     

Do Newspaper JOAs Charge Monopoly Advertising Rates?

Conventional wisdom argues that all commercial and economic competition between two daily newspapers stops when they merge their advertising and printing capabilities to form a joint operating agreement (JOA). Clearly the JOA acts a monopolist in the sale of advertising, but there are two forces that may constrain the JOA to sell more advertising than a profit maximizing single paper monopolist would find optimal. First, there is the possibility of what is sometimes termed ``end game competition'. Disposition of assets from a JOA are often not determined until the JOA is near its termination date, and this may induce the weaker paper to maintain quality, both to improve its bargaining position and to keep open the possibility of remaining in the market as a competitor at the end of the JOA. Second, a daily paper arguably has to maintain a certain level of advertising and maintain a certain ``look' and ``feel' if it is to be considered a daily paper. This may constrain the JOA to sell more advertising and maintain a higher joint circulation than might be optimal for a single paper monopolist. We present econometric evidence that shows JOAs to have ad rates that are closer to those of competitive dailies than to those of single paper and 2-edition monopolists.